People still moving to Houston despite oil slump, study shows

Even though the oil slump was in full swing throughout 2015, people still flocked to Houston last year, U-Haul says.

Houston was No. 1 on U-Haul’s Top 50 U.S. Destination Cities list for the seventh year in a row, the Phoenix-based moving equipment company announced last week. That means the Bayou City received the most one-way U-Haul truck rental drop-offs of any destination in the U.S. during 2015.

Rounding out the top five were Chicago, Orlando, Austin and San Antonio. Dallas came in at No. 18.

The list does not account for those relocations not using U-Haul and for people moving away from cities, but "Houston continues to be an extremely busy location for U-Haul equipment entering and leaving the city,” Matt Merrill, U-Haul Company of West Houston president, said in a statement.

Additionally, data is not stated as a percentage of population and is not necessarily reflective of growth, U-Haul said.

However, Houston’s rapid growth rate did continue between July 2014 and July 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Although New York City added the most people between July 1, 2014, and July 1, 2015, Houston was second by that measure, adding more than 40,000 people, the Census Bureau said earlier this month. With a total population of almost 2.3 million, Houston is within 500,000 people of Chicago’s population. If trends continue, Houston could pass Chicago in 10 years.